Anyone know why the Matt Good subreddit went private?

[Moonlight_Graham]

1 hour ago, Gomo said:

Scary tweet.

I hope for everyone's sake there is a positive resolution to all this. To me the best case would be MG reaches out to whoever he should apologize to and does so genuinely. Also commit to getting some help and being a better person. That would be a positive example to set and allow some good to come from this.

Less important: I've listened to a couple of MG's songs in the past couple weeks. Just a couple. I've found myself still appreciating the music and having a connection with it.

Tricky thing is that apologizing and admitting guilt could make him more vulnerable to potential harassment lawsuits or whatnot from whomever.  But not really addressing/owning anything means there will always be an elephant in the room.  He's in a tough spot.

I also hope he seeks help for his own sake at least.

[Gomo]

Fair point. Tough spot indeed...

[RickDalton]

I'm not about to change the décor of my home due to some bad PR regarding an x relationship... making room for Tribus 

[foats]

hopefully Tribus sees the light of day. Considering he shut down his IG and basically his site.  Really want to hear some new music and get a proper tour for Moving Walls as well. 

[Chris85]

4 hours ago, foats said:

hopefully Tribus sees the light of day. Considering he shut down his IG and basically his site.  Really want to hear some new music and get a proper tour for Moving Walls as well. 

I don’t think there will be a proper Moving Walls tour. Through previous posts, it seems like it was more of “let’s cut our losses and move onto the next album cycle.”

I am hopeful and would very like to hear new music and see a new tour as well.

Edited May 19, 2021 by Chris85

[Gomo]

I checked out for a while and took a break from the music but I'm at the point where I would like to listen to MG's music again. I apparently missed the new material he shared. Didn't see it on his website when I looked today.

I agree there won't be a Moving Walls tour ever. Gotta move on from it at this point.

[patrickjnixon]

18 hours ago, Gomo said:

I checked out for a while and took a break from the music but I'm at the point where I would like to listen to MG's music again. I apparently missed the new material he shared. Didn't see it on his website when I looked today.

I agree there won't be a Moving Walls tour ever. Gotta move on from it at this point.

He released 3 new songs and they are awesome.  I grabbed them while they were up.  DM me and I can put them into a Google Folder to share with you.

Actually, the links are still live from where I DLd them.  Thanks to @RickDalton for posting this on the Tribus thread, which is now locked.

 

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/52f12872e4b06acd907e7ea3/t/606ce754286e044e6a0cc7d8/1617749861013/05-Lost+and+Found+Kids-CPS-VR2.3.mp3/original/05-Lost+and+Found+Kids-CPS-VR2.3.mp3

 

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/52f12872e4b06acd907e7ea3/t/606ce893e009de7583199f29/1617750179014/08-A+Corridor+of+Trees-CPS-VR2.3.mp3/original/08-A+Corridor+of+Trees-CPS-VR2.3.mp3

 

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/52f12872e4b06acd907e7ea3/t/606ce9c7136bda2a0884c022/1617750486806/09-Hollis-CPS-VR2.3.mp3/original/09-Hollis-CPS-VR2.3.mp3

[foats]

18 hours ago, sharon said:

Sadly, I can’t keep enjoying the art for art’s sake, including live performances. It’s a done deal for me and there's no going back. I’m at the point where I want to get rid of all my Matthew Good merch and burn it.
I was around when he shared new material, but I chose not to listen to it.

Edit: You're not allowed to air grievances or diss Matt in here?

I am looking at the RickDalton's pictures above. In the past, I would have admired it and thought it looked nice. But now, I can't help it. It looks more to me like a wall of shame.

I would gladly love your MG merch. I would pay for shipping too. Just let me know. 

[PlasticSoldier]

still wish i could track down few singles i'm missing

Songs have come in here and there and I still enjoy them. We'll see what (if) future work feels like. But old stuff just has too much of my life wrapped into it and for the most part I'd separated art/artist so it's been pushed more to fully separated is all.

Edited June 11, 2021 by PlasticSoldier

[OriginalSpecies]

6 hours ago, sharon said:

Sure it's all yours, foats. Expect a gigantic box of all his CDs and MG merch. Shipping is on me. It's my treat.

Whoa, whoa, whoa--let's not get carried away now... other users might want some merch *nudge*nudge*wink*wink

 

So while my not-so-subtle hint at acquiring a slice of this pie is completely sincere... I just want to say that I'm sorry

Personally, my brain could earn a gold medal in gymnastics for the amount of exceptions and rationalizions it took to maintain a fair amount of my Matt Good fandom... but reading through this thread, it's a little annoying to witness all the vitriol that's been thrown your way, simply because your core principles and values render you unable to enjoy something you once loved very, very much. To have an artist who's no doubt left an indelible mark on your character become a point of personal grief... that's a pretty disappointing transition, to say the least.

So yeah... kinda feel a bit wrong in wanting to gain from what you, in effect, are compelled to give up. Regardless, I'm happy you're still a part of the community ;D

Edited June 11, 2021 by OriginalSpecies

[Gomo]

Thanks @patrickjnixon.

Hollis has definite LOES vibes. I like how layered it sounds. A Corridor of Trees, not my favorite kind of track but I like the instrumentation. Lost And Found Kids, interesting to hear the vocals through like a phaser kind of effect. Liked the slow build to the electric guitar. Kinda wanna hear more  ....

[Moonlight_Graham]

On 6/10/2021 at 10:34 PM, sharon said:

Sure it's all yours, foats. Expect a gigantic box of all his CDs and MG merch. Shipping is on me. It's my treat.

You're a very kind and generous person.  Don't change, even if you get hurt sometimes.

[Moonlight_Graham]

The thing is, throughout my life pretty much everything and everyone I've cared about, besides my wonderful parents, has turned out to be a lie.  I was taught to believe phony stories about Jesus and God, I believed in Santa Claus, the baseball heroes from my youth whose posters I had on my wall turned out to be steroid cheaters, the He-Man toys and stories i loved turned out to just be a way for a corporation to make cash from plastic and TV cartoon ads, and now Disney is pimping my beloved Star Wars like a whore, not to mention good friends who abandoned me all along the way.

Now it turns out Matt Good was a lie, at least a lot of it.  But how do I abandon the songs I took through my teens and 20's and beyond?  If I abandon everything I ever loved I'm left with nothing.  I can be disappointed with the artist but I can't give up the art, it's too much a part of me, and too painful.  If I can't believe in Jesus anymore at least these old songs can give me comfort when I need it.   I need some kind of illusion in my life to protect me from all the disillusion.  Sorry to the people he's hurt, i'm still with you.

[Scott Rodgerson]

I know how you feel. Really.

I was fourteen in the spring of '99 when I finally got my hands on Underdogs. The conceit of MG's music and writing resonated in a way nothing else had; the subversion, the intellect, the cynicism. I was a badly damaged kid who needed someone to look up to. Damage made sense, so Matt made sense. The year that followed was marked by a severe depression that dovetailed into a psychotic episode; dissociation, disconnection, derealization. Beautiful Midnight weaves in and out of that time for me like connective tissue. The music, and the notion that maybe there was someone out there who got it.

That connective tissue weaves through the decades, inextricable. It links our own stories together. The thing we bonded over with friends, took comfort in, believed in. Now it's tarnished, and there's no tearing it out.

There's a question of whether we can separate the person from his music. I'd counter with this: who says it's his? Those songs are attached to our lives. They help us tell our own stories. That they're registered to Dunharrow Music Inc. is a technicality; legality isn't at issue here. In any way that matters to me, he doesn't own Suburbia. He doesn't own Weapon, or Non Populus, or Pony Boy. They're not his songs. They're ours.

Edited June 25, 2021 by Scott Rodgerson

[PlasticSoldier]

is that from one of those terrible facebook ad things?

[Sly Botts]

On 6/29/2021 at 9:04 PM, PlasticSoldier said:

is that from one of those terrible facebook ad things?

Awe man, those things are awful.  Thankfully, I don't normally see them because I use Ublock Origin on my desktop browser.  No youtube ads, no facebook ads.  Its great!  On my phone though... arg.

[i_the_throwaway]

On 6/17/2021 at 9:21 PM, Moonlight_Graham said:

The thing is, throughout my life pretty much everything and everyone I've cared about, besides my wonderful parents, has turned out to be a lie.  I was taught to believe phony stories about Jesus and God, I believed in Santa Claus, the baseball heroes from my youth whose posters I had on my wall turned out to be steroid cheaters, the He-Man toys and stories i loved turned out to just be a way for a corporation to make cash from plastic and TV cartoon ads, and now Disney is pimping my beloved Star Wars like a whore, not to mention good friends who abandoned me all along the way.

Now it turns out Matt Good was a lie, at least a lot of it.  But how do I abandon the songs I took through my teens and 20's and beyond?  If I abandon everything I ever loved I'm left with nothing.  I can be disappointed with the artist but I can't give up the art, it's too much a part of me, and too painful.  If I can't believe in Jesus anymore at least these old songs can give me comfort when I need it.   I need some kind of illusion in my life to protect me from all the disillusion.  Sorry to the people he's hurt, i'm still with you.

Not to dredge up this topic, but I've been processing since the news came out and just need to join in the collective venting. I'm in a similar situation as you, Graham. Matt's music was a fundamental part of my teenage years and beyond. Each album release has somehow come along at the perfect point in my own life, giving me the perfect thing to relate to and reflect upon at the time. My father liked to say MG was "the soundtrack of your life." He passed away back in May.

I've been to practically every show he's done in my town over the years - with my brother mostly, once with my dad, other times with friends. For the solo acoustic tour in 2006, my best friend and I missed out on tickets as cash-strapped pre-university students; we found tickets being scalped for a ridiculous markup on eBay, so my friend emailed him to highlight this to his management and dash the opportunistic jerk's schemes. Matt thanked us and, despite there being no request or insinuation to this effect, he had us put on the guest list for the show. We waited around to see if he would come out after the show but ultimately left without giving our thanks (and days later I heard about the hospitalization that would go on to inspire Hospital Music). I did eventually meet him at a VIP experience during the LOES tour and got to utter an awkward "thanks, you had such an impact etc" speech to him.

Another beloved artist in my life has been in a much more cut-and-dry situation. They owned up to the allegation, and it's honestly still hard to listen to most of their band's music, especially older and more sophomoric songs, and when I do listen to it, there are new meanings that denigrate what these songs once meant. That same best friend was much more attached to this band, and it took them years to be able to stomach listening to them again. 

(Pausing here to add, none of this is to paint myself or other fans as any sort of victim, because that's absolutely not true. The victims here are the people who were harassed. The rest of us are just reckoning with our connection to an artist whose reputation has been tarnished. Any discomfort we have listening to the harassers' art pales in comparison to the pain caused by the actual crimes.)

My gut, knee-jerk reaction here was that "it couldn't be Matt." After years of reading his various writings - his manifestos on politics and the nature of the world, and his work with Amnesty International, helped open my eyes and make me a better citizen - I thought he wasn't capable of the heinous acts he was accused of. And it still doesn't seem like the best version of himself... but he's not. At the end of the day he's a rock musician who came up in the 90s. I've seen his own longtime bandmate leaving a show with a woman under each arm. His own words are right there in the threads of accusations, and I can see how this is the worst parts of him coming out. (Had it only been the cringey pick-up talk about orgasms, I would have thought the simplest explanation was that his account was hacked, but unfortunately it's so much more.)

When it comes to his exes, there is always some he-said-she-said element. There are undeniably some mental health issues at play (thanks to @daniel_v for that well-written post on that matter). But ultimately there were wrongs done that need atoning for. And I also don't want this to be the end of his career and legacy, as that "living ghost" tweet brought to mind.

I had stopped listening to MG when the news broke, mainly because I currently rely on online streaming services these days instead of my carefully curated physical or MP3 collections. I had to break that stance and listen to comfort songs when my dad passed in May, but beyond that I'm only just starting to get back to a place where I can throw on his music for background noise. And that's what prompted this self-indulgent post.